Bosmer

I don't see how that argument is important here. Look for example at the BPM change to Wall of Flashing Steel. In combination with Gambit (that ideally has 0 costs) you will have far higher expected resource return by using that ability... the goal of the Single-Class resource changes (as I understand it) is to bring the higher resource-pool (and the higher resource generation with Brilliant) of Multiclasses more in line with Single-classes. Hence, the internal costs (after 60 seconds!) of one ability is not relevant, but the total resource generation of the class compared to multiclasses in the fights where it matters. I also don't understand your argument against giving Bonded Fury some recovery time to increase its opportunity costs. Most buffs that are not self-only do have recovery and the recovery time will make a difference (especially in shorter fights) for the player to use it or not ... why should bonded fury in that regard be any different from any other ability in the game?

So would you implement it as: 1 Bond after x seconds of moving or x% chance for 1 Bond while moving? I think the problem here is that the best playstyle would be to send the pet to the other side of the map and just keep it running. The duration of the effect (independantly from bonded fury) would need to be prolonged by some form of combat-related activity: e.g. on pet-crit or being crit etc..

Or: give bond while the pet doesn't move (and in addition being inactive?): Gameplay-wise players would have to decide whether to actively use the bonded-fury-buffed animal companion in combat or keep it still (i.e. "bonding" with it) and generate bond. Could be an interesting decision to make.

I really like the idea that bond generation is somehow related to pet+ranger interaction, and on pet-crit would work in this direction. However, would you be able to generate enough bond on the tougher fights (where you really need the extra bond)? Or would you than rely on gimmicky friendly-summon (from chanter?) critting to create bond with the pet? EDIT: and cat animal companion would probably be the best choice for attacking faster.

I also think that the scaling feels too aggressive and maybe Base damage vs. Scaling damage could be readjusted. BPM, however, already buffs the effects of CON and savage defiance, which should make it easier too manage berserker's frenzy. In addition, mage slayer and corpse eater are also buffed and hence the draws of Berserker might feel more pronounced now.

Yeah I completely see your point and playing with Jayd’s mod I have to admit: it’s overpowered - at least in the short fights in the beginning .. but also a lot of fun I want to try shape shifting with your backstab and assassinate changes, maybe I’m able to chain an arquebus+shapeshift full-attack fast enough..

Aaah thanks for pointing that out. I went back a few slides and found the Mod (by @Jayd linked in a post from May 24, 2022) and the discussion. I can understand both sides but in this case I think that BPM shifter might be balanced and still powerful but loses its main appeal (and fun imho.. especially in short fights where the cooldowns don't play a role). Another possibility to balance the Shifter subclass could be by adding recovery to shifting, such that the opportunity costs of quickly shifting in and out increase. Link of the mod is: https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/613/

Hey Elric! I tried to play around with your changes to the Shifter subclass. Reading the patch notes I thought that the 75s cooldown was a cooldown only to the specific spiritshift form used, but it seems that it blocks all spiritshift forms for 75s. I assume that's intentional and I wonder if that's really supporting the idea behind the shifter subclass (i.e. shifting in and out of the different forms as you need their features and abilities).

I tested it with console abilities and items and it is .. a bit inconsitent. Blunderbuss usually gives more than 2 stacks with driving flight..sometimes it’s more than three but not always.

Actually, it's optimal to use the ability from distance with melee + blunderbuss. Gives up to 4*2 stacks after one shot with driving flight. Do you think that this behaviour might be fixable? It's definitely not supposed to be a best-used-ranged ability but thank you for your answer and I get your thoughts regarding dual-wield.

Hi Elric! I'm playing around with your newest updates and I wonder if Takedown Combo could receive a similar treatment as all the "from stealth" effects (assassinate, backstab), i.e. a 1 sec "lingering" of the effect? Such that full-attacks would also come to profit from this. At the same time I think that the well-known interaction with dots should remain, although probably not intended by Obsidian.. I think it's a cool little feature to play around. /// And also regarding Ranger.. I really like your changes to Hunter's Claw now providing until end of combat stacks. However, it seems that dual wielding here is by far the best option, since you can get the full stack with only 5 ability points, whereas single- or two-handed would require spending 10 ability points to see the full stack .. which would probably be achieved in almost no fight. Do you think that stacking a fixed value, similar to stunning surge, might be an nice adjustment? Maybe increasing the value to 3 acc/def/dam per hit, then? In this case dual-wielding would still be the optimal option, but not by a huge margin anymore.///As always, thank you so much for working on this! Highly enjoy it

I am not so sure. Ciphers have access to all other tier 3 afflictions (with the exception of terrified) at the same PL or before, blinded even at PL1 in aoe. And with Psychovampiric Shield they have a very decent similar debuff that also provides an inspiration. Fractured Volition is single target and even with the Buff introduced in BPM I don't think that it's a vastly superior debuff choice.

Yeah, in addition it also benefits from complete self - which has been buffed by BPM. I enjoy Mind blades in deadfire a lot. Personally, I almost never use Mind Wave (imo too long casting time) or Soul Shock (no Shred spell, thus no death of 1000 cuts synergy). But even for these two abilities you could find their niches.

I really like your idea and think that 6 seconds sounds about right. With high enough Int or dex you're looking at 3-4 Spells or Martial Abilities with +3 PL, which is a very strong effect, especially for multiclasses, and with some constitution it's not impossible to achieve. I see this being a very good alternative to nature godlikes for monks for example.

The change to pain link is very welcome, I tried to build around it, but it never seemed like a really decent investment of ability points , focus or casting time ..

If Josh wants to do a PoE3 we could expect development starting pretty soon, since Pentiment is about to release. However, if Josh doesn't yet feel like working on a deep RPG maybe someone in the current team of Avowed could pick this up. In that case, we would have to wait at least 2-3 years for development on PoE3 to start. In any case, I don't think it's impossible that we'll see our highly anticipated PoE3 one day

I really enjoyed your previous changes to Assassinate and Backstab, so very curious to see how this one plays out. I assume that Red Hand or two pistols/blunderbusses could apply stun to 2 targets, if fast enough. Maybe with driving flight pushing it to up to 4 different stuns from one invisibility/stealth. Looking forward to playing around with this!

So would the ticks generate focus or heal a steel garrote paladin?

And maybe eternal devotion?

I think there are two setups that might especially profit from Boeroer's strategy (or DoT-focus-gain strategies in general): 1) An Ascendant who can cast the reaping knives for free at the end of the ascendant state and therefore speed up the following re-ascending period. And 2) a soulblade who might be able to spam soul annihilations, without relying on auto-attacks in-between. But I don't think that even in these cases the way that reaping knives seems to work right now is too broken ( I haven't tested it yet). In any case the way it works (or should work) doesn't match the tooltip description, no matter if its 5 focus per melee hit or 5 focus per any hit. There are other weapons that apply their weapon-effects to the wielders universal damage, so I guess it wouldn't break existing rules if it would stay the way it is (but maybe adjust the tool-tip to clarify it?). Alternatively, if the knives should only apply to melee attacks, than I assume that the earlier propposed 8 focus per melee hit might be a decent value to keep it useful (or the real 30% damage if feasible.)

That's true, but in this role it directly competes with Driving Echoes, which boosts all forms of pen, not only melee attacks.

Are you referring only to shared nightmare or is there some use to protective soul that I haven’t understood yet?

Nice find! In a similar vein: Cipher's Driving Echoes would especially boost DoT Damage output. Edit: And maybe the bonus penetration of assassinate (not tested if it works for the whole spell duration).

Nice List! Hunter’s fang (up to 20%) should work as well (not tested).

Have you checked how the aoe weapon effects interact with belt of magrans chosen? I mean, you want many (weak) enemies, and maybe with the fire blights it might be even a strong build up against single-high-defense targets?